On the Steady Trade Podcast, we strive to educate you on ways to attain and maintain a long-term career as a trader. As part of that mission, we occasionally like to share interviews with successful traders to inspire you on your journey.
Today, Tim and Stephen interview Matthew Owens, AKA Triforce Trader, who has taken a different approach to trading. As Tim puts it, Matt’s approach is very “macro”; he employs algorithms and statistics and has found great success as a trader.
The tale of Triforce
Matt caught the trading bug at age 15 when his school had a stock market competition. He threw all of his money into Apple, which doubled in the next year. Not only did he win the competition, but he was hooked on the stock market.
Then, one day, he happened upon a book at the library called Don’t Sell Stocks on Monday. This book offered some fascinating insight on seasonal tendencies and probabilities in the market. It opened Matt’s mind to an idea: could the market be beaten?
In college, he began to teach himself programming, which only increased his statistical and algorithm-driven mindset. When he was 23, his mother sadly passed away; an inheritance she left him allowed him to begin trading in earnest, using the strategies and skills he’d discovered over the years. Since then, he has found his niche in futures trading.
Wait…futures trading?
Nope: Matt doesn’t deal in penny stocks. He primarily works with futures trading. In a nutshell, futures are based on financial contracts between a buyer and seller to exchange an asset (such as a commodity) at a future date and price. These contracts detail the quantity of the asset and are standardized to adhere to futures exchanges.
Each contract has its own value, like a stock, and it moves with the commodity prices. It allows access to a wide variety of markets; with futures, you might be trading grains, oil, gold, or a variety of other things.
Penny stocks versus futures
Tim, Stephen, and Matt discuss trading futures versus penny stocks. As Matt puts it, penny stocks are not for him; he’s not a “hunter,” which is a trait he sees as being inherent in trading penny stocks. Different types of trading are better suited to different types of traders and their personal constitutions; which is right for you?
“You need to have an edge.”
Stephen wants to know: how do you make money in futures trading? According to Matt, to grow your account steadily, you have to have an edge that goes beyond technical and fundamental analysis. Tracking setups that have the probability to work will give you an edge. His edge is statistics, and in the episode, he explains some of the ways in which he uses statistics and tracks them.
It’s as easy as X, Y, Z
Matt literally has boiled down trading to a science and offers a simple X+Y=Z equation for choosing stocks.
X = the condition
Y = the trigger
Z = your follow through
In the episode, you’ll hear more about using this equation for creating a trading plan. As Matt admits, it can be boring, but it delivers results. As he wisely imparts, “I don’t believe in the psychology of trading, it should all be mechanical.”
Advice from the Triforce Trader
When offering the secrets to his own success, Matt credits two things in particular: reading, and seeking out a mentor. For him, traders like Larry Williams, author of Long Term Secrets to Short Term Trading, have been pivotal in terms of education and shaping his own trading career.
Trading is real work, and you need to have an edge. A mentor and a strong education can help you go beyond the initial “addictive” phase of trading so that you can truly build a long-term career.
Want more?
You can find out more about Matt via his website, Triforce Trader; he also has a presence on Profit.ly.
Why triforce trader?
In case you’re curious about Matt’s trading alter ego: it comes from the video game The Legend of Zelda, about a boy who has been asleep for most of his life but finally wakes up to do something. This is symbolic for Matt, who feels that trading helped him come to life.
Of course, this begs Stephen to ask the important question: who’s your favorite superhero? Leave a comment in the show notes!
Got questions?
If you would like to hear more about anything discussed in this (or any) episode, be sure to visit the “submit your audio” section on our website to ask your question; it might just be featured on the air!
Thanks for tuning in to the Steady Trade Podcast! Stay tuned for weekly episodes covering every aspect of how to be a steady trader with long-term, reliable success!
Did you love this episode? Be sure to leave an iTunes review!
Loved this episode with Matt. Thanks!
Thanks for listening Daren!
I don’t agree with Matty’s perception of penny stocks, but interesting perspective
Yeah I’m with you Nick, but there are so many trading vehicles out there, for sure plenty of room for different opinions and strategies.
Great podcast. Good work guys
Thanks Elliot!
Stephen, you were particularly great in this one lol great humor and actual value added questions and input too. And Tim, great job keeping Matti in this realm lol he was extremely impressive and interesting
Thanks for listening Nick!
My super hero name now is and I will use it hahahaha – Proteus – God of Volatility.
Another fantastic episode. Thanks for the inspirational reminder of HOW and WHY hard work researching is useful to find an edge and Matts’s comments were very insightful.
This episode is definitely another multiple viewing lesson 🙂
Haha, love your super hero name!! 🙂
Great information guys! An additional perspective, and another weapon in the Arsenal as my trading career progresses. If any naysayers out there question whether you guys are trying to teach this episode shows how open-minded you are to other ideas and techniques which is absolutely essential to learning. You guys are the real deal!
Wow, thanks for the great input Joseph!!
clearly he knows what he is doing and he has made a lot of money doing it but he pretty much just said that penny stocks suck and it is not a great way to try and make money from the market. its great to have different views but whats the point in me listening to someone who says what I’m doing is never going to work lol
Well like I said to Nick below, whether it be low priced stocks, high priced stocks, futures, crypto’s, currencies, etc. there are so many instruments to trade. For instance I constantly hate on 3X ETF’s but I know guys that do well on them. Thanks!
These podcasts are SO good. Your choices of subjects, guests, your camaraderie, the questions you ask, etc., etc., etc. are all SO, SO good!!! This may be one of my favorites (but I think I say that just about every week so . . . ). I wouldn’t miss one!
Thanks for being a repeat listener Diane!!
Great Podcast, Interesting perspective on trading.
Thanks Cal, we hope to keep bringing in all varieties of traders!
Variety is the spice of life. There are many different ways to success. Thanks guys for another great podcast!
Thank you for the kind comments Michael!
I really enjoyed this episode. It was refreshing to listen to a different perspective on how or what to trade. Like Sykes always say, to find your own patterns and ways to trade and not to follow others. Matty has found his way to trade after meeting and studying different mentors. You do what you have to do to find your way. I liked a lot. Never thought about futures but I would like to learn more about it. One thing at a time. I need to understand pennystocking first 😉 Great Stuff Tim Bohen and Stephen!
Great point Clovis! We talk about “finding your edge” a lot on the podcast and Matt is a great example of a guy that experimented with all kinds of trading until he found something that suited him.
Informative ,educational and extremely eye-opening interview. You have to listen to the entire program to pick up all the valuable nuggets. Thank You fellas.
Thank you Johnny!!! Glad you find it valuable!
awesome webinar guys, thanks a lot for sharing and taking the time to create all of this
Thank you for listening Conrad!
I like the episode;
“Not just a psychology of trading… but mechanical.
Don’t be scared of the numbers..
… some of my take away from your awesome episode, Tim & Stephen . Thanks for sharing Matt.
Thank you Larry!! I too have tons of respect for Matt’s systemic approach!
Great hearing from Triforce. One smart dude.
Have listened to other videos of him.
And Tim let the guest talk. 2 Thumbs up. Make that 5 thumbs up. LOL
Haha, yeah I made an effort to improve my interviewing interruptions! Thanks
Amazing interview with great insight and information from Matt. Thank you for all your knowledge, insights, and thank you for doing the show as always. This ranks at the top of all the episodes in my opinion. There is so much to learn from. I will definitely listen to the episode another time or time.
Wow thanks for those killer comments Jason!